Book Review: Unrivalled (Alyson Noel)

* I have been given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review *

Publisher: Harlequin UK

Release Date: May 10th 2016

Summary (from Goodreads):

EVERYONE wants to be someone.

Layla Harrison wants to be a reporter.
Aster Amirpour wants to be an actress.
Tommy Phillips wants to be a guitar hero.
But Madison Brooks took destiny and made it her own a long time ago.

She’s Hollywood’s hottest starlet, and the things she did to become the name on everyone’s lips are merely a stain on the pavement, ground beneath her Louboutin heel.

That is, until Layla, Aster, and Tommy find themselves with a VIP invite to the world of Los Angeles’s nightlife and are lured into a competition. The prize, or rather the target? Madison Brooks.

Just as their hopes begin to gleam like stars through the California smog, Madison Brooks goes missing. . . . And all of their hopes are blacked out in the haze of their lies.

Review:

This was one of those books where the blurb sounded more interesting than the story really was. Unfortunately I really struggled to maintain my interest.

What sounds like the inciting incident – Madison Brooks going missing – doesn’t actually happen until quite near the end of the book. Before that, there was a lot of introduction to all the main characters, and then there’s the competition, which takes up most of the book. And while it sounds sinister in the blurb – “The prize, or rather the target? Madison Brooks.” – the aim is actually to get her to go to the nightclub they’re promoting, not to murder her or anything exciting like that.

I was bored by most of the competition bits and only really got interested quite far into the book, when Madison disappeared and things got interesting. There’s some blackmail going on, there’s mysterious motivations from some characters, and there’s the mystery of Madison’s past as well. But these came too late in the book to make the rest of it interesting.

While I was intrigued towards the end and I would like to know exactly what’s happening and who’s behind everything, I don’t think the mystery is enough to make me want to read the sequel. This wasn’t a bad read: it was well written and I got through it quickly, I just think it wasn’t exciting enough to hold my interest and I wasn’t wowed by it.